Ballistic particle size discriminator



March 1, 1960 J. H. MOGINN BALLISTIC PARTICLE SIZE DISCRIMINATOR 3 Sheets-Shet 1 Filed Nov. 6, 1956 Tmawfiv 5 wm i m I INVENTOR. JOHN HOLTON MCGINN ATTORN EYS March 1; 1960 J. H. MQGWN 2,926,783

BALLISTIC PARTICLE SIZE DISCRIMINATOR Filed NOV. 6, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JOHN HOLTON McGlNN ATTORNEYS March 1, 1960 J. H. MOGINN BALLIS'I-IC PARTICLE SIZE DISCRIMINATOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 6, 1956 INVENTOR. JOHN HOLTON McGlNN NEYS ATTOR and will be more apparent from read inc'onjunction with the accompanying drawings, in

which: Y i

United States Patent.

. t 2,926,783 BALLISTI C PARTICLE SIZE DISCRIMINATOR V John Bolton McGinn, Philadelphia, Pa. Application November 6, 1956, Serial No. 620,709 14 Claims. (Cl. 209 -1352 This invention relates to aballistic particle size discriminator particularly adapted for the separation, either for sampling or, collection purposes of airborne particulate matter according to size.

Particulate matter, either solid or liquid, suspended in air or other gas for, any substantial length of time is generally designated as an aerosol. Such aerosols have become of considerable commercial importance in their uses for the dispersion of paints, insecticides, fixatives, etc., and sampling to detect the distribution of sizes of particulate matter therein is of importance, for example, as a check on the properties of the aerosol itself and to determine the etfectiveness of apparatus to produce aerohols having desired characteristics. Furthermore, aerosol formation may be a step in the production of fine particles of materials such as plastics, and in such cases not only is sampling desirable for control of production of particlesize but discrimination of particles according to size may be important in the collecting operation.

In accordance with the present invention discrimination of particles according to size is etiected in a novel fashion in which a high degree of discrimination is attained.

The invention is particularly applicable to the grading of particulate matter in the 2 to 200 micron size range, .a range within which there falls the particulate matter of most aerosols of industrial importance.

Heretofore, the most effective discriminator has been the cascade impactor in which an aerosol is drawn through a series of orifices in such fashion that the aerosol leaving each orifice is caused to flow in a curved path. The successive orifices are so aranged that the velocities of flow increase successively'from one to the other. Surfaces are provided adjacent to the orifices so that particles thrown outwardly centrifugally, or per haps more accurately stated, particles whose inertia is not overcome by the drag of the fluid, impinge'upon the sur 1 faces and are there retained for examination. This cascade separator, however, isnot efiective for any high de gree of discrimination, there being very broad ranges in size of the particles. collected at each of the orifices.

The operation in accordance with the present invention involves, essentially, the projection of the particles to be separated at a. substantially constant velocity at a point of entry into a region of still air or other gas. Even if particles of different sizes have somewhat different velocities at the point of entry, all particles of a given size have substantially the same velocity. Asa result, each particle follows a trajectory which is determined by its initial velocity and the drag of the still air or gas. By causing the trajectories to traverse a surface defined either by a physical surface of a collecting member or by entrances to a series of bins, or defined by an optical plane, or otherwise, the discrimination is eifected.

The general objects of the invention are concerned with the attainment of the discrimination just mentioned the following description,

it litially Figure 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view provided to illustrate the principlesinvolved, there being also indicated in Figure 1 an expression which approximately gives the range of spherical particles; i

Figure 2 is an, axial section of, a ticularly designed for samplingof aerosols;

Figure 3 is a similar section showing an arrangement which may be used for continuous aerosol analysis;

Figur e4 is a diagrammatic view partly in section show ing the type of apparatus which may be provided for the collection in quantity of small particles discriminated as to size; and i a Figure 5 is a diagram indicating an orifice arrangement which may be used when relatively large quantities of particles are to be collected.

Throughout the following to avoid complexity of description it willbe-understood that where particles are referred to not only solid particles but liquid droplets are included. Furthermore, while reference will be made particularly to air-as a suspending gas of an aerosol it will be understood that other gases orvapors are also included.

Referring first to Figure 1, there is indicated at 2 a chamber whichis enclosed except for an aperture 4. which, may be regarded as circular and which defines at its center 6 what will be hereafter referred to as a stagnation point. Assuming that a jet of air carrying particles impinges on a plane wall 10 in which the aperformof apparatus par- ,ture 4 is provided, the jet being indicated by its stream lines 8, the following will occur:

Considering the axis of the jet to be horizontal and that of the aperture 4and that the surface 10 is vertical and at right angles to this axis, idealized steady state conditions would give rise to a pressure in the chamber 2 equal to the stagnation pressure of the jet occurring at the point 6 and consequently there would be no flow of air through the aperture 4. Under such conditions the air within the chamber 2 is still and any particle carried by'the jet in line with the aperture 4 will, as it passes the aperture, move into this region of still air so that its trajectory will be determined by the velocity with which it passes theorifice, its mass, the drag of the still air thereon, and the acceleration due to gravity. (It may be noted that in somecases forces of an electrical nature might be involved, but in the fashion in which the invention is desirably carried out these forces are substantially eliminated and play no part in the operation.) The 7 effect of the drag and acceleration of gravity depends, of course, upon the characteristics of the particle, namely its size, shape, density, and to some extent in the case of liquid particles, the changes in shape which may be due to its varying velocity with respect to the air, its surface tension, and perhaps other factors. If particles are homogeneous in composition, if, considering shape, they enter the aperture 4 similarly oriented, and if theentrainment in the jet has been such as to cause at least particles of the same size to enter the orifice at approximately the same velocity, then the trajectories diagrammed at 12 and 12 which particles follow will be uniquely related to the particle size with the result that the particles will reach definite positions 14 and 14 where they intersect a surface such as indicated at 16. The trajectories indicated at 12 and 12' are for illustrative purposes considerably distorted from the shapes which would exist for particles of the very small sizes constituting aerosols. Such particles would deviate from the condition of parallelism with the axis xx' only very slightly until their velocities became very low. Then they will very slowly fall under the action of gravity to the intersection points such as 14 and 14'. This may be readilyunderstood when it is considered that a spherical particle five microns in diameter will require 3.3 seconds to fall a distance of 0.10

some cases bedesirableto setup predetermined electrical movements of the particles. .Usually', however, gravity is depended upon to,.produce particle fall the axis of the apparatus being. horizontal.

follows typical dimensions which have been foundpar-f ticularly successful in the discrimination of particles .in a range of 2 to 200 microns size, this size being the diameter of equivalent spheres:

The sampling tube 30 in this case had a length of L10 inches, with an inlet diameter of 0.42 inch and a n exit diameter of 0.16 inch. The spacing between the outlet 34 and plate 50 was 0.080inch. The diameter of aperture 52 was 0.030 inch. The diameter of each opening in the baflles -54 was -0.046 inch with spacings between the bafiles of 0.062 inch, this same spacing existing between the plate 50 and the baflie adjacent thereto. The

collecting surface 56 had a length of 10 inches and a width of 0.25 inch. The tube had a length of 3.5 inches and a diameter of 1.75 inches. V

Typical operating'conditions involved a pumping, rate through'the tube 42 of 1.12 liters persecond, gauge pressure in'the tube 20 of minus 2.2 centimeters of mercury, and a gauge pressure in the chamber 48 of minus 0.12.centimeter of mercury. Under these conditions the collected particles through the length of the surface 56 ranged from about 5 microns to 55 microns with excellent discrimination, the particles at any particular position along the length of surface 56 being very uniform in size. In the case just mentioned the dispersion was of solid plastic spheres.

Through the use of a very small aperture, as indicated, at 52 (this being exaggerated in the drawing for clarity), the particles of a given size entering the chamber 48 will be at substantially the same velocity.

For extreme accuracy, the results may have to be corrected to some extent for large particles the diameters of which may be a substantial fraction of the diameter of the orifice. This correction, however, is at most a minor one and may be usually neglected.

Analysis of the numbers of particles engaging the surface 56 may be effected by counting under a microscope, by chemical or colorimetric analysis of sections of the surface 56, or the like. An actual physical surface at 56 may be replaced by a surface defined by a thin plane of light, the passage of particles across which may be counted, at various points of its length, by dispersion of light to one or more photocells.

For sequential or continuous sampling there may be used the arrangement of apparatus illustrated in Figure 3 in which, the other parts of the apparatus being substantially as already described, the surface 56 may be replaced in a collecting chamber 48 by a cylindrical member 66 having an inner collecting surface 70. This cylinder 66, arranged on a sloping axis, may be driven intermittently or continuously slowly by a motor indicated at 68. The lowermost element of the cylinder then corresponds to the surface 56 for reception of the falling particles, while a time scale is furnished by rotation.

If, instead of mere sampling, it is desirable to collect fine particles of different sizes, the type of apparatus illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 may be used. In this case, the collecting chamber 48" contains bins 72 but is otherwise the same as chamber 48, closed except for the entrance aperture 84. In this case a supply of air or other gas under pressure indicated at 76 passes through an automatic control valve 78 into a chamber 74 wherein it forms a dispersion, in any known fashion, of the material introduced at 80. The dispersing means may be any type of atomizer or the like. The dispersion then enters the converging tube 81, corresponding to 30, and escapes through the opening 82, with a central portion of the dispersion passing through the aperture 84. For the fields with the idea of intentionally producing particular.

purpose'of increasing the quantity collected the aperture 84 may take the form of an'elongated slit as indicated in Figure 5, there being indicated in that figure at. 82 a suitably corresponding shape of the exit orifice of the tube 81. On the assumptionfthat sharpidiscrimination of par-- ticle sizes is desired there will, of course, pass into cham-' ber 48 only a relatively small fraction of the material dispersed, thatwhich impinges on the plate containing theaperture84'being collected and redispersed, While a suction type of flow inducement is not involved the flow being due to the pressure originating at 7.8, if the pres-' sure in. the chamber 74is maintained substantially con-* stant there will be a substantially constant pressure in chamber 48;.' correspondingto the stagnation pressure of the jet from tube 81 with the attendent production of trajectories uniquely relatedto particle size. Theupper' edges ofth'e bins 72 then define the plane or other surfaces which the trajectories intersect to effect the separation. t

It will be noted that the difference between separation here involved and that heretofore carried out by dispersion and projection of solid particles or droplets by a jet of gas is that the projection is into a still region of gas wherein the dispersing oriprojecting gas does not produce currents interfering. with sharp separation.

It will be evident that various modifications of the invention may be provided without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for the discrimination of particles in gaseous suspension comprising a chamber having a re.- stricted aperture in a wall thereof, means including a nozzle directing a stream of gas containing particles in suspension towards said aperture to project particles through the aperture into gas within said chamber, said aperture having an opening area substantially smaller than the internal cross-section of the discharge end of said nozzle so that all particles of the same size entering said aperture do so at substantially the same velocity, and said chamber providing a region of gas having no substantial velocity component in the direction of projection of particles through the aperture and providing an extended free space in said direction of projection so that particles to be discriminated are slowed down to substantially zero velocity in the direction of said projection by gas friction alone, and means defining a surface within said chamber to he traversed by the trajectories of the particles entering the chamber.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said means defining a surface is constituted by a surface engageable by the particles following said trajectories.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said means defining a surface is constituted by openings of bins for collecting particles.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said means defining a surface is constituted by a movable surface engageable by the particles following said trajectories.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said means directing flow of gas comprises a second chamber exterior to the aperture of the first mentioned chamber, said noule opening into said second chamber and being directed towards said aperture, and means for withdrawing gas from said second chamber.

6. Apparatus for the discrimination of particles in gaseous suspension comprising a chamber having an aperture and providing a region of non-turbulent gas, means including a nozzle directing a stream of gas containing particles in suspension towards said aperture to project particles through the aperture into the gas within said chamber, said aperture having an opening area sub stantially smaller than the internal cross-section of the discharge end of said nozzle, means defining a surface within said chamber to be traversed by the trajectories of the particles entering the chamber, and battles within said chamber adjacent to the aperture therein and prochamber.

7; Apparatus'accbrdiii'g tb cliifi 1 comprisiiig sh t'it ter mounted to o :saidchamber. V V V of gas'is directed ht rigbt"aiig1efo'said plane-wan:-

12. Apparatus accordin gvto claim Sin which the H v tu're" is providedf iii" a; plziirefwll and in" whigh "th is" directed atright 'arigl'estb sid plan"WlI alignment with theaperture; I f

13. Apparatus accordifig' to claim 1 in whicli'th'e aperture has a sharp edge provided by" b'evlliigodthe'side opposite said stream ofgas; l i

aseoursiispensien'cemp iing a bainberhdving ari} ap rtiii'e" and providing 1?" t fg lgn of; rri'in-"rurbu lent' gasimeans particles ir susper siqn t qwiii'dsisaiglap'ertfire tdprb ject sideopppsite'said'stre'eril of gas;

References cites i;rme;fi1 e 1 f 1ii patq ii; UNITED: STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 659 Great'Britin' Jan: 10, 191.1 6,6 65 GreafBritain 1891 659,531 Great Britain Oct. 24', 1951 V v V I V the, chamber, said aper ture haviiig a sharp edge provided by be'veilin'g onthe 

